By now, I've come to be quite situated in Italy. My apartment feels like "home" after a long day out, I've warmed up to my 3 classmates, and I can actually walk around/go to school alone without having a panic attack. The other day, some tourists asked me for directions. I felt SO COOL.
Every Sunday, the street my apartment is on turns into a huge flea market, making it hard to sleep in (jk not really, I can't even wake up to my alarm). But really it's so cool!!! The flea market is huge, and goes for probably like...a mile? To be honest I don't even know because I haven't gotten around to actually walking the entire thing...but when I look down my balcony from the 7th floor, I can't see the end. They sell everything from furniture to clothing to accessories to shoes to books to anything else you can think of. It's really awesome! Oh and since it's a flea market, it's also a great spot to go thrifting. My apartment mates have gone every weekend and bought clothes but I haven't gotten anything yet because I've always been out and by the time I get home the flea market's closing. But I can't wait to actually spend time walking through the whole thing and seeing everything it has to offer!
Speaking of Sundays, after spending my first Sunday in Italy in Sperlonga, I went to church with Hannah for the second one! It's called Rome Baptist Church and it's situated right in the middle of all the cool shopping/restaurants in Italy. It took us forever and longer to find it because the address on the website was incorrect but we actually made it on time! I didn't know it then, but it's actually really easy to find and pretty close to my school. Yay. I must say, it was pretty cool to see all the English-speaking Christians gather together to praise God in Italy. The church itself wasn't that big, but the room got pretty crowded and people who came late didn't have seats. The program was interesting because everyone in the room had to sit and listen to the children's Sunday school lesson because they did it at the front with the mic. It was cute, but interesting..and different. Overall, the church was alright but we haven't gone back yet because we're always so busy on the weekends exploring Rome. I want to check out other English-speaking churches in Rome but they're mainly located outside of Central Rome where I live, so I think it'll be hard. Church here is hard...I miss Sovereign Grace :-(. But I'm thankful that I even found a church at all!
After eating out the first week, my apartment mates and I decided it was time to start cooking, so we all went grocery shopping like crazy. Of course we all bought pasta and tomato sauce (like what else would we eat in Italy? duh). But I also bought an 825 gram jar of Nutella. My weakness: Nutella. Goodbye all hopes of staying fit in Italy! But really doe. I eat it everyday. With carbs. With lots and lots of carbs. I'M GONNA GET FAT. I brought about 6/7 sports bras but I've only worn it once. For my ice bucket challenge. Is this what you call an epic fail? But I walk a lot so hopefully I won't gain that much weight...HOPEFULLY I'LL STAY THE SAME OR EVEN LOSE SOME WEIGHT! OYA!
School has been good...even though I'm in pre-intermediate Italian with just 3 other students. 3 other students out of all the students in my program. What a fun class...jk but really. Nobody got put in pre-intermediate Italian...but it's coo because I absolutely adore my professor and my classmates have really grown on me :-). I really didn't expect to be learning so much here but I think by the end of this program, I'll be somewhat pretty good at Italian...like I'll be able to live here alone and survive. LOL. COOL HUH. So for the first three weeks of my program, I'm taking Italian classes for 3 hours Monday-Friday. Then after that, I have Italian for 1.5 hours Monday-Thursday along with my academic classes which are 2 hours each. Luckily, I got the exact classes I wanted so I have class from 9AM-1:30PM Monday-Thursday. That's really good considering some students have 4-6PM classes. Like I wouldn't not have been able to deal with that. PLUS, I arranged my schedule so that I end finals on Tuesday, which means I can travel from Tuesday-Friday before I go back to America Saturday morning. BOOYAH. But anyway, my program had two free tours in Rome, and one of the tours took us to several churches in Rome. THEY. WERE. BEAUTIFUL. Like for cereal. From the outside, most churches look the same- big, old, and cool. But inside is a whole other story. Some student in my program was apparently moved to tears at one church he went to. Yes a "he". That's how beautiful it is inside.
Italy has been really good to me, especially since the weather's been getting better! It's still hot & humid, but not like the first week. Thank da Lord. Oh & now I'm basically slowly becoming a local here hehe. Even though I probably will never truly become a local. Whatevs.
xoxo
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